It’s supposed to be a happy time of year… As long as I can remember my heart was thrilled at the prospect of Christmas and gifts, but there was another part of my heart that broke for the less fortunate.

My mom and dad reminded us to pray for the less fortunate when I was a kid. I always did, even when on a few occasions we may well have fallen into that category ourselves. It’s heartbreaking to think of kids without presents, much less without the basic necessities of life. We were blessed to not have to fall into that extreme category.

I’m highly doubt that the most fortunate kids are the ones who get everything on their Christmas wish list. In many ways those might be even less fortunate than those with little, I think it all depends on our perspective.

We’re planning to do things for the monetarily less fortunate this year. That means we’re fortunate. Not because we have jackets, but because it’s a gift to be able to give and help, especially when it’s cold outside.

As a kid I was no different than any other kid, I wanted cool stuff for Christmas. Like God’s gift and sacrifice of His son to a lost and dull world, parents give, sometimes with sacrifice to their children in tradition of this season.

Kids don’t grasp the Gift. It can take decades before they gain wisdom to get the true meaning of Christmas. We often take the gift of God’s Son for granted, just like the little ones longing to shred the wrapping paper off another gift.

It isn’t until some time later that kids can look back in hindsight to see the sacrifice of a parent or parents, in a very small way – reminiscent of our Father and His perfect gift. Once grasped, we look back in wonder and awe at the perfect gift of Jesus Christ.

I think when we begin to grasp that, we also grasp the other gifts from God, those gifts that aren’t wrapped sitting under a fake or dying tree; The living gifts of our family and loved ones. The precious memories aren’t the tearing of wrapping paper off a present. The memories are the gifts of time being spent with people who dearly love us; the ones we sacrifice for.

Like a child tearing wrapping paper off of presents, we miss the best part of those gifts. We miss the smiles on the faces of the loved ones who sacrifice, directed by God to care for His little ones.

Often we take for granted God will grant them or us another year. For those of us who live with the reality of another Christmas without the smile of a loved one to share with us, also know that the real gift is life.. Here now, and in eternity later.

image courtesy of familiestogether.org

The thoughts of Christmas still bring mixed emotions to me. I’m thrilled for the time with family and I’m sad for the less fortunate…

There is an area about two inches under my collar bone, just above my heart that gives me slight pain, as I ponder another Christmas without my dad. It certainly helps me understand the true meaning of fortunate.

The fortunate are the ones who realize that the real gifts of Christmas are the gifts of salvation…

8 Comments

I feel the two sides too: the fun of gathering with family and giving wrapped gifts specially chosen from their wish lists. But there are many that surround me now that tug at my heart. They deal with loss of loved ones and financial strain, and so many hurting physically in their bodies. I am reminded the heart of Christmas, the reason Jesus came was to rescue us in our sin and pain. Otherwise, it’s just another celebration. Christmas memories surface for me too when I think of my sister and I planning gatherings, cooking and baking together. I’m thankful for those past days. Merry Christmas! I hope you and your family enjoy the holidays to the max. As always, thank you for your kindness to me and my family, for the prayers especially. What a gift; I thank you a million times!

Every Christmas for the past 7 or 8 years our church has provided a breakfast for our community. Whether Christmas has been on Sunday or not (twice now) we have done the breakfast. It (and Thanksgiving) are one of the greatest things we do. Not because it toots our horn (I will stop if it ever gets to that) but because we are serving our community. Thanksgiving saw us serve 30 meals and deliver over 65. That includes all the gas station personnel, the CVS pharmacy which was open, and the public servants. hard to tell what tomorrow will bring although we already have 20+ meals to deliver and have over 50 bags of food to take with the meals. God has blessed us as a church family and there is no way I want to be guilty of keeping it to ourselves. I love that your family is planning on doing something monetarily for others. That,my friend, is service.

We were able to give to a couple of needs this year which does make the heart glad that we can bless others. I grew up poor so we were on the receiving end from organizations in town, churches, and family members who knew without a little help we would have no Christmas. There is a humbleness in both the giving and receiving and we need to experience both in order to get the full scope of being humble. Merry Christmas brother.

Things were quieter this year at daughter Becky’s home where Dennis did the cooking for us. Granddaughter and her husband came for dinner and opening of gifts. Grandson and his new wife went with her family, so my Son and his family stayed home. Judie and her family were at their home in So Calif, and their daughter and new son-in law from Canada were there with them. At least most of my children were all here at my place for Thanksgiving. All during this season, I have reflected on God’s gift and how it came about. What an amazing story He wove to finally offer us the free gift of Salvation. I like what you said about family being the stocking stuffers. Great post and loving memories.

What a wonderful, heart-felt post, brother! You are so right…I am SO grateful for the greatest gifts of all…dear Jesus and the supreme sacrifice He made to come to this sin-blighted earth and die for our sins and for my precious family who means more to me than life itself. I am also so grateful for the many precious friends God has brought across our path…friends like you who are there through thick and thin and who have blessed my family and me in so many ways. I trust you and your dear family had a wonderful Christmas day together, and may the year ahead bring only blessings your way!

Jesus is the true gift we unwrap every Christmas (and hopefully, every day of the year) and family are indeed the stocking stuffers. I especially miss my dad at Christmas as the day marks his birthday; a bittersweet time for me. Seeing the grands tear off the wrapping on their gifts, though, brings such joy and gladness.
Hope you had a marvelous Christmas, Floyd!

A heart-felt post, Floyd! Thank you for sharing it. I’m writing on the 26th, so I know how things went yesterday, with the four grandchildren enjoying what the Lord has done–and what their parents and grandparents had done, too. There was both excitement within the children, as anticipated by the older generations, and also, at the same time, a quiet patience in them. They sat through prayers and a long-ish breakfast before going downstairs to play, and every now and then came back up and asked, “Can we open presents now?” When we said yes, we all enjoyed the fun. — All the adults, and at a less doctrinal level, the older of the children were aware that yesterday was a birthday celebration: the birthday of the Son of God. We sang Him happy birthday at supper and ate a cake decorated for His event, but mainly we were blessed that He had come at all, in the first place, and that He will come again!

Always a pleasure to read another of Floyd’s awe inspiring posts. I can’t express in genuity how much my family has been blessed just Knowing Floyd.
As I sit here at the pump, light on, fuel gone and not a penny to get any more. …I find it a blessing to be able to read this post, on my obama phone…
things have been much worse, no doubt…but it is then that He walked into our lives offering a light at the end of the tunnel…a glimpse of life in the way of work, but in my deepest time of need all had been stripped away and given to the next in need. I will make it through, always do…
off to a trip to hawwii.
AP